SIC SPLITS CONFERENCE OPENERS WITH OLNEY CENTRAL

November 25, 2013

In doubleheader action Saturday afternoon in Harrisburg, Southeastern Illinois College and Olney Central College split their Great Rivers Athletic Conference season openers.

Women’s Game – OCC 91, SIC 75

In the first game, the OCC women used a dominating 21-4 stretch in the first seven minutes of the second half to cruise to a 91-75 victory.

The Lady Falcon hosts had made a stronger showing in the first half, taking the lead at 13-11 after back-to-back three-pointers by Victoria Mandrell and Sydney Clark, halfway through the first half.

From there, OCC started establishing its serious size advantage, pounding the ball inside repeatedly to Kelsey Pilant and Samantha Shoulders, running off 17 of the game’s next 21 points to increase their lead to 28-17 at the five minute mark. The Lady Falcons were then able to close the deficit to nine at the half, before the early second half implosion.

Not giving up the fight, SIC rallied, forcing several OCC turnovers and generating a run – largely via sophomore guard Anna Best, whose three-pointer after forcing a steal cut the deficit to 64-52 with 10:30 left.

The hosts were never able to cut the lead under 12, though, and the Lady Blue Knights were able to pull away for the victory.

SIC got 20 points from Best, 18 from Alexis Jones, 12 off the bench from Mandrell, and 11 from Nakaila Sheppard.

OCC was led by Pilant, who scored 27 on 11-16 shooting.

Men’s Game – SIC 92, OCC 89

After building a lead as big as 15 early in the second half, the SIC men had to endure a serious challenge at the end, watching a last-second heave by OCC’s Brook Pampe that could have sent the game into overtime hit only backboard.

Southeastern had control for much of the first half, establishing a seven point lead on a three-pointer by James Williams and extending their lead to 43-33 with 1:30 left, before OCC scored the final four points of the half.

From there, SIC ran off 11 of the first 13 points of the second stanza, capped by back-to-back long-range bombs by Randell Pickett and Alan Long that pushed the lead to 54-39 three minutes into the second half.

Olney Central made a couple of big incursions as time slipped by, first slicing the lead to 66-61 on three foul-shots by Jaquan Grissett with 8:30 left, only to see Southeastern score 11 of the next 14, closed out by a steal and score by Robert Barnes that bumped the score to 77-64 with just over five minutes remaining.

The guests quickly cut the lead to five thanks to back-to-back treys by Dominic Jackson with 3:50 left, before Barnes scored on a drive to stem the bleeding again.

The Falcons just couldn’t put the game away for good, though. A three-pointer by Tyler Brough and an easy layup by Brook Pampe cut the lead to 92-89 with 2.9 seconds left.

After SIC’s Jamar Rivera drew a foul, he hit the first free throw, but committed a lane violation in attempting to follow his second foul shot, negating the fact that it went in, and setting up Pampe’s last-second attempt from just beyond halfcourt, which went far left.

Pickett led the charge for SIC with 28 points and 11 rebounds, team highs in both categories. Also in double figures for the Falcons were James Williams, with 16 and 9 rebounds, Long, who scored 15, and Jaylen Carter, with 13.

Olney Central got 27 from John Brown, 18 from Jaquan Grissett, and 14 from Trey Mitchell.

SIC’s homestand continues with another doubleheader on Tuesday, as they play host to GRAC foe Wabash Valley, with the women’s game starting at 5:30 and the men’s game to follow.